WILLMAR -- A citizen reported an unauthorized purchase on the person's account around 12:40 p.m. Thursday. The report was made at the Law Enforcement Center.

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Shoplifters

WILLMAR -- Three 13-year-old girls were cited for shoplifting around 6 p.m. Thursday at Claire's Boutique, 1605 First St. S.

Underage consumption

WILLMAR -- Nine people were cited for underage consumption around 10:15 p.m. Thursday along the 300 block of 11th Street Northwest. Another underage person was taken to a detoxification facility.

Theft

WILLMAR -- The theft of a wallet and unauthorized use of credit cards was reported around 2:15 p.m. Thursday. The caller reported the theft happened at Affiliated Community Medical Centers, 101 Willmar Ave. S.W. and that someone was already charging purchases on the credit cards.

District Court

Kandiyohi County

* Gerald James Springer, 28, of Willmar, was sentenced Thursday to a year and a day in prison, which was stayed, on a felony fifth-degree controlled substance crime.

He was also ordered to pay a $1,000 fine and put on probation for five years. As a condition on the stayed sentence, he was ordered to serve 60 days in jail, with credit for two days served. Springer was also ordered to complete a chemical dependency evaluation, follow his treatment and aftercare, be excluded from places where illegal substances are present and attend a 12-step program and verify attendance.

Springer was arrested March 6 in Willmar after Willmar police were called to a complaint of a suspicious person in the parking lot of an apartment building in the 300 block of Lakeland Drive Southeast. According to the court file, the building caretaker pointed out a vehicle that did not appear to belong in the area and said there was a man from the vehicle inside the apartment complex. An officer approached Springer when he left the building, and Springer admitted that he had been there to purchase methamphetamine for the people he was with, and he told them he had a scale, a pipe and one gram of meth in his possession.

Molnar entered the plea on an Alford basis, under which he does not admit guilt but concedes that there is likely enough evidence that a jury would find him guilty in a trial.

The charge was filed after a contractor contacted the Kandiyohi County Sheriff's Office last summer regarding an advertisement placed in a "builder's paradise" flier. The contractor had paid Molnar $850 for the ad and never received anything for the money. The contractor had tried to contact Molnar and didn't get any response.

The investigation revealed that nine contractors, from Willmar, Spicer and New London, had paid Molnar a total of $8,450 for ads in the publication. Investigators talked with Molnar's business partner, who said Molnar was in Florida attending to a sick relative. He also said he lost money because of Molnar's actions. Another man, hired as Molnar's assistant, told investigators Molnar had cashed one contractor's check at a Willmar bank, frequently ran up restaurant and bar tabs and had large amounts of cash. He told officers that he eventually quit working with Molnar because he wasn't getting paid for his work.